Chapter nine: A Father's Sacrifice

From outside the doorway, Enyo gasped as her mother passed by. She reached out attempting to touch her shoulder, but once more, her hand merely passed through. Adara returned to the porch and sat down as Enyo came to join her, both of them gazing up at the sky. The grass rustled and off in the distance a figure was lurking up the path to the farm. He walked with a stride that demanded respect, carrying a helmet in his hand with a sword laced upon his back. His hair receded slightly; its black tone matching his coarse beard almost perfectly. His face was pot marked with scars from battles long since won and his eyes held both defiance and an unfettered mercy. Adara looked up as he came closer.
“Ares” she whispered, going to meet him.
“Has it only been three years?” he asked, placing his arm around her waist. She removes it and moves away, sizing him up for a better look.
“Have we truly lost what we once had?” he asked sadly, as she crossed her arms.
“Did you ever truly love me Ares?”
“I’ve never felt a stronger connection than when I was with you; nor have I ever felt a more unbearable absence than when I was without you” he replied, his eyes staring into hers.
“Was it only for my beauty?”
“Never.”
“Why have you come back?” she asked defensively.
“I’ve been exiled and rendered mortal . . . and I’ve come for our daughter” he answered finally.
“Well you can’t have her” she replied, stepping back protectively.
“I implore you to listen to me Adara. This child has a destiny; one that just brought itself into life. She has been decreed to bring about the destruction of not only the Gods themselves, but this world and everyone who inhabits it, if she is not destroyed.”
“She’s a child Ares! Nothing more! And more than that, she is my child. Destroy her and you destroy me. War has never entered her life and I refuse to allow it to start now.”
“You can’t stop this. Her path has been decided for her, you-
“Her path is her choice!” she snapped, interrupting him. “And one that she will make without your influence!”
“Zeus has given me an order.”
“Oh, is that it?” she scoffed, stepping back. “Your damned godhood, that’s all this is for isn’t it? You don’t care about me, and you sure as hell don’t care about her. You’re just in this for your immortality” she spat.
“I’m in this for your protection.”
“You bastard” she growled. “How dare you chastise me.”
“You may not believe me, but it’s true. Zeus is not able to destroy Enyo because he did not create her; I did. However that won’t stop him from coming after you and Sicily will be the first place he looks.”
“I don’t care if he comes after me.”
“I do.”
“You’re not taking her from me Ares” she said resolute, her feet planted in the ground.
“You aren’t doing her any favors Adara. She’ll be hunted her entire life; she’ll never be safe.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away; ashamed she had let herself fall prey to her emotions, but she was not the only one. Being turned mortal had taken its toll upon Ares. His mind became overpowered with the concept of “choice”, something he had never before had to experience. His brain was acknowledging what it was truly like to be human; sidling with love, desire, and more than anything: regret. Enyo was his daughter; he had created, therefore was he not required to love her? Adara loved her; she would die for her and Ares knew it. He longed for that love and knowing he could never obtain it, killed him inside. He could not destroy his daughter; his immortality wasn’t worth the cost.
“Then at least let me take her out from under their noses” he said at last. “I’ll take her to Athens; she’ll be safer there.”
Adara said nothing, merely staring at him in silence. Enyo continued to watch from the porch, her face drawn into a scowl, her heart beating so hard she was afraid it would burst. After a moment, Adara returned to the porch and went inside. She returned seconds later with a tiny Enyo asleep in her arms.
“Where ma going, mama?” she asked dozily, rubbing her eyes and settling back into sleep.
“You’re going on a journey to the stars” she whispered, the tears once more starting to fall. She placed her in Ares arms and planted one final kiss upon her cheek.
“If you ever truly loved me, you will ensure her protection” Adara said, swallowing hard and wiping her face.
Ares nodded. Wrapping Enyo tighter in her blanket, he turned back to the path and set off for Athens, never looking back.
Adara watched until he faded from sight and then returned to the porch, buried her face in her hands and began to sob. It pained Enyo terribly to see her mother in anguish.
“I’m right here mother; I’m right in front of you” she begged, trying to reach out and comfort her, but Adara could not see her. Enyo rubbed her temples in frustration and the world around her once more began to change. It was like entering a whirlwind; being caught in its torrent and having your surroundings being ripped out from under you, only to be gently set down in a new environment, completely unaware of had just transpired. She was sitting on the doorstep of a home all too familiar. It was strange seeing Baris’ and Thaya’s home standing as it had been before it fell to its fiery death, and though deep in her heart Enyo knew it was truly destroyed, being able to sit beneath its framework one last time; if even within a dream, was satisfying.
Ares strolled toward the house, Enyo fast asleep in his arms. He walked forward and gently set her down, peeling the blanket back to reveal her face. She was a spitting image of her mother, Ares thought. For a moment he debated whether to kiss her. He had never known how it truly felt to be a father, and though he had been absent in the three years she was alive, as he looked down upon her he could not deny a part of himself proclaiming to love her. He rapped on the door and stepped off the porch, disappearing into the darkness. Enyo looked upon her former self. This child was meant to live under peace, but like all things, it would be ripped away from her. Enyo looked into a face that was her own but not her own. Her skin would never again be that smooth; never that whole. Her eyes would never again hold that same amount of innocence, being forever scarred by the wounds of war and her heart, the one force that Adara had promised she would never lose, would never again be fully whole. She was the first daughter of Ares, god of war; violence would forever run in her veins.
Enyo stepped off the porch and followed Ares into the dark. He had walked as far south as the village reached, entering into the forest that lay at its end. His hulking figure was not difficult to spot, and even if she had lost sight of him, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d end up finding him again. When at last he had stopped at the edge of the clearing, he sank to his knees and bowed his head.
“Hence forth, I call upon sisters three.
Show yourselves and answer me.
By ancient law, I do decree:
To strike a deal with each of thee
And seal my fate as it should be.”
A sound, similar to the crack of a lightning bolt, tore through the sky. The air fell into complete silence; not a leaf stirred, not a thing moved or even breathed and all the while, Ares held his breath. Three balls of light, the palest blue, rose out of the ground and hovered side by side in front of him. As they sank lower to the earth, they began to take form and after a moment of seconds, what remained of the orbs were three, very old, very hunched over women. Their faces were beyond ageless, if even an age could be set upon them. Their hair, the whitest Enyo had ever before seen, hung in strings down their face from beneath a tattered shawl that was wrapped around their head. Their fingers were bony and covered in various rings and charms that jingled every time they moved and around each of their necks hung a small silver pendant carved into a shape very similar to that of an eye. Their cheeks were hollow and nearly sunken entirely in their face and as the middle sister opened her mouth for a cackle, Enyo noticed she was missing the majority of her teeth.
“Ares” the first woman purred, drawing her fingers beneath his chin, the charms around her wrist all the while jingling.
“Clotho” Ares returned, pulling her hand away and standing up. “Lachesis . . . Atropos . . . “he added, nodding in the remaining sisters’ direction.
“Your proposition?” Lachesis asked.
“I propose a trade” he muttered.
“You have spoken our chant; if it is in our power to grant your desire . . . then we shall do it” Atropos added.
“A life for a life” he said simply.
Lachesis threw back her head and laughed.
“You think me a fool?” Ares asked angrily.
“We think you naïve” Clotho answered. “We do not toy with life.”
“But you are bound by ancient law to grant a god his one desire in exchange for his greatest possession. I am willing to give that to you; my life.”
“In exchange?” Atropos asked.
“My daughter’s protection. I will never be able to provide her with the father she deserves, but she is nevertheless my child who was brought upon this Earth by no one but me. Her burdens are mine to bear and I will bear them gladly. Ensure her existence is made secret and in exchange, I will die in her place.
“Her destiny cannot be changed. What is done will soon come undone.” Clotho murmured.
“Do not torture me so. She is only a child; one who knows nothing of her fate. Let me take her place in the underworld” he pleaded.
The Fates looked at him in total silence, their eyes boring into his, saying not a word. The first sister raised her hands to the sky and joined them. The remaining two followed suit.
“A life for a life
a deed for a deed.
Thy shall join her in death
her life, a secret it shall be.”
With a short clap of their hands, the sound of lightning once more burst through the air, bringing with it more eerie silence. Ares collapsed to the ground clutching at his chest. The three sisters remained no longer, having transformed back into three small orbs which slowly moved toward the ground, sank beneath the earth, and vanished from sight. Enyo watched from afar, peering from behind a tree until Ares finally stopped moving and entered into death.